Twenty-eight years later, former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) has clarified that the late Chief MKO Abiola died of natural causes, not poisoning.
He noted that comprehensive medical investigations conducted after the demise of the June 12 icon found no evidence of foul play.
Gen. Abubakar made the disclosure in his autobiography, Call of Duty, which was unveiled on Saturday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja to mark his 84th birthday.
The event, which also featured the launch of two other publications, attracted numerous dignitaries, including President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
In the memoir, the former military ruler revisited the tense circumstances surrounding Abiola’s death on July 7, 1998, insisting that an autopsy requested by the family conclusively established that the frontline politician succumbed to a pre-existing heart condition.
“I do not believe Abiola was poisoned. The family requested an autopsy and we assembled American, British, Nigerian and Canadian pathologists to conduct it. The autopsy report attributed his death to natural causes,” Abubakar says in the book.
According to him, Abiola had been battling serious health challenges years before his death.
He noted that the businessman and politician was known to be suffering from hypertension and other cardiovascular complications during his detention.
“As far back as 1994 when he was arrested by the Abacha Administration for declaring himself President, it was public knowledge that Abiola was managing certain medical conditions which could seriously affect the quality of life of any human being,” the book states.
Abubakar also referenced a 1994 medical assessment reportedly prepared by Col. (Dr) O. Awofeso, then Chief Consultant Radiologist at the Nigerian Army Defence Hospital in Sokoto.
The report, he says indicated that Abiola had an enlarged heart with signs consistent with hypertensive heart disease.
The former Head of State also recounted his own version of the narrative on Abiola’s final moments during a meeting with a visiting United States delegation led by Tom Pickering, then U.S.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, and Susan Rice, then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
Drawing from Rice’s 2019 memoir, Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For, Abubakar said Abiola began coughing shortly after the meeting commenced.
“Rice said she noticed Abiola’s ankles were swollen. About five minutes into their conversation, according to her, ‘Abiola started to cough, at first mildly and intermittently, and then wrackingly with consistency.
“As the situation worsened, Abiola reportedly complained of feeling unusually hot and requested that the air conditioning be increased. Medical personnel were summoned and concluded that he was suffering a heart attack,” the former military leader claimed.
The retired general claimedvhe was shocked when he was informed of the death of Abiola by his Chief Security Officer, Abdulrasheed Aliyu, who had accompanied the American delegation that visited the billionaire politician in detention.
“Aliyu, my CSO, called me. As soon as I picked, he said, in a shaky voice, that there was a problem. I asked: ‘What problem again?’ He said Abiola was dead. My head went blank,” he recalled.
He said he personally delivered the tragic news to members of Abiola’s family, adding that one of the deceased politician’s daughters broke down in tears and was comforted by Rice.
Reflecting on the broader implications of the incident, Abubakar argued that permitting the American delegation access to Abiola helped dispel possible conspiracy theories.
“If we had not allowed the American delegation to see him and he had died in custody, it would have been a different story. It would have been insinuated that he had long died and we were trying to cover it up.”
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